1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a roller skate frame, more particularly to a roller skate frame with reinforcing ribs.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional roller skate frame 11 of a roller skate 1 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,898. The roller skate frame 11 includes a shoe-mounting plate 111 that is adapted to receive a skater""s shoe (not shown), and a pair of parallel wheel-mounting plates 112 extending downwardly from the shoe-mounting plate 111. A plurality of wheels 12 (only one is shown) are disposed between and are mounted rotatably on free ends of the wheel-mounting plates 112 through respective axles 114 that extend through the wheel-mounting plates 112. A plurality of screw nuts 115 and washers 116 are used for fastening respective axles 114 to the free ends of the wheel-mounting plates 112. A U-shaped reinforcing plate 113 is connected to the roller skate frame 11 to enhance mechanical strength of the latter.
The aforesaid conventional roller skate frame 11 is disadvantageous in that the free ends of the wheel-mounting plate 112 tend to distort during cornering (as indicated by the imaginary lines shown in FIG. 1), thereby resulting in improper alignment of each wheel 12 relative to the wheel-mounting plates 112, which, in turn, results in undesired friction between the wheels 12 and the wheel-mounting plates 112 and severe wearing of the washers 116, the axles 114 and the wheel-mounting plates 112.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a roller skate frame that is capable of overcoming the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the present invention, there is provided a roller skate frame that comprises: a wheel-mounting plate having top and bottom ends, the wheel-mounting plate being formed with a plurality of first through-holes adjacent to the bottom end, each of the first through-holes extending in a transverse direction relative to the wheel-mounting plate; a shoe-mounting plate adapted to receive an article of footwear thereon, projecting in the transverse direction from the top end of the wheel-mounting plate, and disposed at one side of the wheel-mounting plate that is adapted to be opposite to the wheel; a plurality of spaced apart wheel-mounting protrusions, each of which projects from a periphery of a respective one of the first through-holes in the transverse direction, each of which is disposed at the side of the wheel-mounting plate, and each of which defines a second through-hole that extends from a respective one of the first through-holes in the transverse direction; and a plurality of first reinforcing ribs, each of which projects from the bottom end of the wheel-mounting plate in the transverse direction and extends between and interconnects two adjacent ones of the protrusions.